Effects of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater Program on Social-Emotional Competence and Bullying in Youth and Adolescents: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background Students in the United States spend a meaningful portion of their developmental lives in school. In recent years, researchers and educators have begun to focus explicitly on social and emotional learning (SEL) in the school setting. Initial evidence from meta-analyses suggests that curricula designed to promote SEL likely produce benefits in terms of social-emotional competence (SEC) and numerous related behavioral and affective outcomes. At the same time, there are often barriers to implementing such curricula as intended, and some researchers have questioned the strength of the evaluation data from SEL programs. As part of the effort to improve programming in SEL, this paper describes the protocol for a cluster randomized trial of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater program, a brief psychodramatic intervention to build SEC and reduce bullying behavior in students. Objective The objective of this trial is to examine if a short dose of interactive psychodrama can affect SEC metrics and bullying experiences in schoolchildren in either the short (2-week) or medium (6-month) term. Methods The ACT OUT! trial is a cluster randomized superiority trial with 2 parallel groups. The unit of measurement is the student, and the unit of randomization is the classroom. For each grade (fourth, seventh, and 10th), an even number of classrooms will be selected from each school—half will be assigned to the intervention arm and half will be assigned to the control arm. The intervention will consist of 3 moderated psychodramatic performances by trained actors, and the control condition will be the usual school day. Outcome data will be collected at baseline (preintervention), 2-week postintervention (short term), and 6-month postintervention (medium term). Outcomes will include social-emotional competency; self-reported bullying and experiences of being bullied; receptivity to the program; and school-level data on truancy, absenteeism, and referrals to school displinary action for bullying. A power analysis adjusted for clustering effect, design effect, and potential attrition yielded a need for approximately 1594 students, consisting of an estimated 80 classrooms split evenly into intervention and control arms. Results This study was funded in June 2019; approved by the Indiana University Institutional review board on September 17, 2019; began subject recruitment on November 5, 2019; and prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Conclusions Many states have issued recommendations for the integration of SEL into schools. The proposed study uses a rigorous methodology to determine if the ACT OUT! psychodramatic intervention is a cost-effective means of bolstering SEC and reducing bullying incidence in schools. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04097496; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04097496 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/17900

Developing and Validating a Novel Anonymous Method for Matching Longitudinal School-Based Data

“…A similar procedure was tested by Xu et al (2020) and published while this study was ongoing, but their work was focused on matching optimization rather than perceptions of anonymity (e.g., they included the new variables as additional, not replacement, elements), and it was conducted in a laboratory setting among older adolescents. We were able to match 78.63% of cases overall, with lower match rates for fourth and 10th grades, and a higher rate for seventh grade; this was consistent with our published expectation in the study protocol, which was 80% (Agley et al, 2020). We do not have any evidence indicating why there may be a discrepancy in matching success between the seventh and 10th grades, though fourth grade was expected to be lower because of the loss of a matching element (last number in the locker combination).…”

“…This study was a secondary analysis of matching data generated by the ACT OUT! cluster randomized trial (Agley et al, 2020) and fell under the umbrella of that study's institutional review board approval.…”

“…Instructions for filling out the survey, including the matching elements, were reviewed for reading level using the Flesch-Kincaid formula and edited until they were under a fourth-grade reading level (Kincaid et al, 1975). Additional details about the survey administration process are available in the published study protocol (Agley et al, 2020).…”

“…Thus, in the complex landscape of school-based research, individuals working with schools may wish to match data while ensuring both the reality and appearance of extreme difficulty in data reidentification. This may include, for example, providing a letter to parents outlining the questions that will be asked, including SGIC elements, and why they are being asked in that manner (Agley et al, 2020). However, there is a notable absence of a standard or recommended set of SGIC data elements that can accomplish this purpose.…”

An Intervention to Enhance Social, Emotional, and Identity Learning for Very Young Adolescents and Support Gender Equity: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Small advances have been made toward leveraging technology as a tool for promoting positive social and emotional skills and mindsets among adolescents. Examples of such programs have demonstrated positive impact on mental health and have reduced bullying among adolescents [ 29 , 30 ].…”